Westmist Session #98 - Stealing from the Slugmen

Kern and Erijay went back to the Foreign District to rest and plan their next moves. Kern was keen to find a way to defeat the aspects of Yg and save Westmist; or whatever was left of it. So next morning the pair presented themselves at the gate and requested the presence of their minder. "Perfect Spreading of Merit". When the official appeared, Kern and Erijay requested that they bring him to an archivist who specialized in religions and cults of the Old Imperium. It took some time ("such a pointless and obscure topic, as all know there are no gods"), but "Perfect Spreading of Merit" led them through the maze-like city to another domed building and led them inside to consult with the human head archivist. He took their request to his slugman master, and reappeared shortly with a shocked look on his face; his master, the great slugman archivist Toi!ko, wished to meet the requesters! This was nearly unprecedented, and the assistant archivist advised the party to be very careful to not look directly at or speak to Toi !lo or the consequences could be devastating.

Properly chastised, Kern and Erijay are led into the inner rooms of the archive to meet the slug man. They looked at their feet as the creature sized them up. Toi!ko then spoke to the assistant archivist in a weird clicking and croaking language. Sparing a glance at their minder, they saw a horrified look spreading across "Perfect Spreading of Merit"'s face, while the assistant archivist has gone white as the snow. Interview over, the duo are led back to the lobby, where the assistant archivist tells them what Toi!ko had to say. The slug-man is quite happy to assist the pair. To do so he requires a set of books currently held by one of his rivals, one who dabbles in similar matters, but refuses to share the books with the expert and mighty Toi !lo! If Kern and Erijay recover those volumes for him, he will gladly answer their questions. Such a crime is apparently an offense against all that is good and right and harmonious, but neither the assistant archivist nor their minder feels able to say ‘no’ to one of the slug-men. Kern wondered what "Perfect Spreading of Merit" would do; turn them in to the authorities, abandon them, or what? It appeared, however, that whatever he thought of the matter, he was honor bound and obligated to continue to be their guide. That clarified, the duo had "Perfect Spreading of Merit" to guide them to the rival slug-man archive so they can scout. They find a stone, domed building, very similar in layout to the other archives they have visited. Walking around, they peered in a few windows and got an idea of the layout of the building, locating two possible locations for the books at opposite ends of the archive. Erijay cast detect magic and noted some kind of magic barrier or alarm blocking entrance into one of the rooms. In the other the blinds were closed so nothing could be seen.

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Heading back to the Foreign District, they made a few stops along the way to shop for potions of healing, check out some of the gear lifted from Jax, and buy some star sapphires and rubies in case they need to make a fast exit back through the gate. They made arrangements to meet the now terrified "Perfect Spreading of Merit" in the morning to go and take care of the book break and enter. First stopping at a philosophical society to get a silence 15' radius cast, they headed to the archive. Erijay loaded up with detect invisible, detect magic, locate object, fly and the silence spell. While Kern distracted the assistant archivist with nonsense questions, Erijay flew about looking for the books. Her locate object guided her to the room they could not see in the day before. Hovering carefully in the door, the elf saw the books high on one shelf. She unfortunately also saw the slugman settled in study just below them. She waited for him to leave, but the creature never stirred. Spells about to expire, Erijay left the building, tapped Kern on the shoulder as she drifted pass, and all headed back to the Foreign District to rest up and memorize spells for another attempt.

They waited several days before heading back to try again, just to ensure they did not arouse suspicion. They repeated their plan of the previous attempt, and this time Erijay was relieved to find the slugman absent from the room. As she approached the books, however, two of a trio of statues standing along the way animated and headed in her direction. They could not reach the flying elf, who was well above them getting the books of the shelf. The activity did attract some of the human servants of the slugman, but they did not detect the magically shielded elf. She escaped with the prize, and after meeting up again with Kern and "Perfect Spreading of Merit", they brought the books to Toi !lo to trade them for information.